St. Patty's Parade

So I know that St. Patrick's Day was LAST weekend - but I was distracted - Ok I was reading (North and South - excellent book), but anyways back to St. Patrick's Day. . . Montreal is home to the largest St. Patrick's Day Parade in Canada - partially because of the large Irish population, and partially because Montrealers like any reason to go out and party (be it a celebration or a protest . . . ). It was a beautiful day - the temperature was near +20, the sun was shining brightly and the crowd was ready to be pleased. I only stuck around for half of the parade (I personally don't find parades that exciting - I like the marching bands best - hmmm Bagpipes and snare drums), but I took some pics, some of which I will share a few.

The Parade started with the man of the hour - good ol' St. Pat himself.
This was the RCMP pipe band - they were really good - I wish they would have just stayed there and played for the rest of it.
The crowned princesses and queen of the parade. Fun Fact: the queen and her court used to be winners of a beauty pagent, but are now winners of a speech contest.
Ah, the Shriners (who are they anyway?!?)
And of course the required fire truck . . . with maybe a few very nice looking firemen riding on top . . . not that I noticed :)

Anyways, that's just a glimpse of this years Montreal parade. It was a nice day, and despite the crowdedness, was pleasant to stand and watch the passing people.